DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.638#0140
78 INDIAN MYTH AND LEGEND
intertribal feuds were frequent and bitter. The Aryans
of the Punjab, like the Gauls who settled in northern
Italy, and the clans of the Scottish Highlands in the
Middle Ages, were continually divided among them-
selves, and greatly occupied in subduing rivals and in
harrying their cattle.
Villages were protected by stockades or earthworks
against the attacks of enemies and wild beasts, or they
contained strongholds. They were governed by heads-
men, who were, no doubt, military leaders also; disputes
were settled by a judge. Land, especially grazing land,
appears to have been held in common by communities,
but there are indications that cultivated plots and houses
were owned by families and ultimately by individuals, the
father in such cases being the supreme authority. Village
communities, however, might be migratory, and certain
of them may have had seasonal areas of settlement.
Permanent villages existed in groups and also at some
distance from one another, and were connected by roads,
and one clan might embrace several separate communities.
Trade was conducted by barter, the cow being the standard
of value, but in time jewels and gold ornaments were
used like money for purchases; "nishka", a necklet,
afterwards signified a coin. Foreign traders were not
unknown at an early period. The use of alphabetic signs
appears to have been introduced by Semites before the
close of the Vedic period; from these evolved ultimately
the scientific Sanskrit alphabet and grammar.
In the Iranian period1 there were social divisions of
the people, but the hereditary system does not appear to
have obtained until the close of Rigvedic times. Kings
might be elected, or a military aristocracy might impose
its sway over an area; a priest was originally a poet or
' A convenient term as explained in our Introduction.
intertribal feuds were frequent and bitter. The Aryans
of the Punjab, like the Gauls who settled in northern
Italy, and the clans of the Scottish Highlands in the
Middle Ages, were continually divided among them-
selves, and greatly occupied in subduing rivals and in
harrying their cattle.
Villages were protected by stockades or earthworks
against the attacks of enemies and wild beasts, or they
contained strongholds. They were governed by heads-
men, who were, no doubt, military leaders also; disputes
were settled by a judge. Land, especially grazing land,
appears to have been held in common by communities,
but there are indications that cultivated plots and houses
were owned by families and ultimately by individuals, the
father in such cases being the supreme authority. Village
communities, however, might be migratory, and certain
of them may have had seasonal areas of settlement.
Permanent villages existed in groups and also at some
distance from one another, and were connected by roads,
and one clan might embrace several separate communities.
Trade was conducted by barter, the cow being the standard
of value, but in time jewels and gold ornaments were
used like money for purchases; "nishka", a necklet,
afterwards signified a coin. Foreign traders were not
unknown at an early period. The use of alphabetic signs
appears to have been introduced by Semites before the
close of the Vedic period; from these evolved ultimately
the scientific Sanskrit alphabet and grammar.
In the Iranian period1 there were social divisions of
the people, but the hereditary system does not appear to
have obtained until the close of Rigvedic times. Kings
might be elected, or a military aristocracy might impose
its sway over an area; a priest was originally a poet or
' A convenient term as explained in our Introduction.